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    COTY

    Assailant -- Year 226

    QOTY

    "But the dream, the echo, slips from him as quickly as he had found it and as consciousness comes to him (a slap and not the gentle waves of oceanic tides), it dissolves entirely. His muscles relax as the cold claims him again, as the numbness sets in, and when his grey eyes open, there’s nothing but the faint after burn of a dream often trod and never remembered." --Brigade, written by Laura


    look what you made me do - anyone
    #1
    It is colder than it was back home.

    No, not home anymore, I remind myself.

    Sylva.

    This is home now, this cold grey land with its grey sand and grey sky and grey sea.

    I stand on the shoreline, sheltered from the wind by a curve in the granite cliffs and from the drizzling rain by the slightest of overhangs. It's not quite a cave of my own, but it is better than staying under Mother's watchful eye. Out here, I can do whatever I want.

    Whatever I want seems to be looking out at the whitecapped sea, because there is literally nothing else to do here. Mother had not exactly promised us adventure, but I had hoped that this new land would be as splendid as our old one. Instead it is dull and grey and I am completely and utterly bored.

    I scuff one pale hoof into the damp sand, heaving a sigh that moves my entire body. I stand out starkly against the iron grey kingdom, a leggy white yearling with only a crooked mask of color across my face. I hope - halfheartedly - that someone will come and find me and give me something to do:
    #2
    Home for him had seemed to calm down to a crawl. The young stallion had noted that spring had almost brought an emptiness to the kingdom. He could go to the playground that he heard his mother mention to find others his own age to interact with but, Ardashir dragged his feet with most things. It was not that he did not want to leave his home it was just that he had no current reason too.

    His wandering had brought the pale coated boy to a bend in one of the many cliff faces that surrounded Nerine. The rains of spring had set in and the coastal kingdom sprang to life in its own way. The grasslands produced small lively flowers. The buzz of bees hung around when it was not drizzling, and the fruit trees had bloomed as well.

    Ardashir looked up with his sapphire blue eyes as he came around this curve in the cliff. His hooves sinking into the rain soaked sand a bit. He was greeted by the sight of another pale horse. The yearling scented the air allowing it to tell him that this other leggy yearling was female. She was also new to this land. He could smell on her another place that was not bathed in salt and stone. He offered a slight cough before opening his mouth in greeting.

    “ Hello, I have not seen you in Nerine before.” His voice was raised slightly but still silvery in its delivery of his words, “ I am afraid my home is putting on a poor show for our guest.” He did not walk any closer to her. She had not invited him to step into her personal space.
    Ardashir
    The blue in an ocean of grey..
    #3

    Wrena

    set fire to the rain

    Wrena did not love the cold at all and cold it was. For her cold is anything below seventy degrees fahrenheit – she’s not coldblooded, but her soul certainly is. The sea’s craggy, sand-blown edges seem to call for her always or at least several times a season. This time of year though, it is chilly and the winds cannot decide if they want to spit snow, rain or ice sometimes. Ever lapping, the sea sets a calm atmosphere to escape to; it’s whispers echoing from the caves and the wind carving between the pillars of stone and earth.

    The lithe, rusty-red yearling cannot tell if it is early spring or late winter – who gives a shit, right? She shivers to herself and watches the curls of black smoke puff from her nostrils as she snorts out a cold breath. Ah, a fire, she thinks. Too windy out here in the open, but these shallow caves with wide arching mouths of rock looking out onto the sea are simply perfect for a airy fire.

    As she gathers thin logs, dried moss and grass and various kindling – all things she was taught by her mother as soon as it was discovered she was a girl of fire – she fails to notice the others on the beach. Once the things were gathered, kindling piled and perfectly pitched and her pile of semi-dry wood to the side. She blows softly and only a flicker of spark rolls off of her tongue…this is mostly the extent of her magic at her young age, but it is enough to spark a standing fire. The pile ignites and she blows a little more until the flames lick and hiss. Mumurations of tiny fire-birds dance and flit until they fade like any other ember, but Wrena saw them. Each time fire comes out of her it creates something fleeting like that.

    She stands over the warmth in a trance of sorts. Orange and white flicker off the shadowy stone and glitter across her reddish skin, her obsidian scaled wings and light her simmering eyes. The crackling of fire cannot be heard by a naked ear, not with the crashing waves and the heartbeat of the sea’s breathing winds, but the faint glow would stand out to anyone with eyes who happens to be on the beach at this hour.

    #4
    He appears suddenly. I blink rapidly, the wind had been against me, the stone his him from sight, and the crash of waves covered the sound of his approach. He is a boy my age, with a hide as bright as mine. That is where the similarities end though, for he seems at ease in this grey world as I had been in Sylva. The words he offers are as formal as his appearance, and I am reminded once again that this is not really where I belong. I am used to being the one to say those words (or at least words like it, for Sylva is always beautiful and needs apologize for nothing), and yet now I am on the receiving end.

    “I just got here,” I tell him, “Mom brought us from Sylva a few weeks ago.” My tone is dry, dismal, a teenage girl upset  at having to change schools. I don’t mean to meet his gaze, but I do look up in his general direction. I had intended to do a quick sweep of him. Tall, impressively built with eyes a captivating electric blue. It is something just beyond his shoulder that truly grabs my attention though, and I step forward without thought, trying to get closer to it.

    “Do you see that?” I say aloud, unable to keep my attention from the flickering light any longer. “That glow there. Against the cliffs.” I gesture pointedly with my pale muzzle, the pink skin of his mouth quivering intently. There is a moment of uncertainty, and then I leap forward with enthusiasm. “Let’s go see what it is!”

    Without waiting for confirmation from the colt, I press ahead, moving quickly across the firmly packed sand and toward the source of the strange vision. I do not hesitate, not even with the scent of something acrid, something..off reaches my nostrils. I have never seen fire in my year of life. I was a child of deciduous forest; my home did not need a frequent cleansing by flame as some prairies and mountainsides do. The concept of smoke is an entirely foreign one, but it makes my eyes sting and burn uncomfortably as I hack up my accidental inhalation.

    Through the streaming tears, I see something that looks like familiar movement. My nose quivers for and instant – damper and darker – and I am instantly sure that there is a horse on the other side of this hot moving golden…thing.

    “Hey! Hey you! What is this thing?” My voice is rough from coughing, but I’ve realized if I step to the side and don’t breath in the black air that the warmth it casts is rather pleasant. “Is this yours?” In a world where almost anything is possible, it doesn’t seem odd for her to ask the barely visible other horse if this ball of light is under her control.
    #5
    He seemed to have a habit of running into situations that led others to startle. His ears turned forward to listen to the filly before him. He had taken note of her coat and a small smile crept its way to his lips it seemed he was alone in his color in his home. Ardashir did know that there were not a lot of those in the kingdom that carried a lot of flashy colors. He had met a fiery bright red mare though and there was his mother. He was sure that he had not met everyone there was to know with in the lands of ocean and cliffs, and of course the sand.

    She spoke to him and he leaned his head to the side a moment listening, “ Well it is a pleasure to meet you and welcome to this little piece of salty heaven.” He chuckled some and lowered his head as he shook it from side to side with his laugh. “ I am sure it will look better with the summer and maybe not a so rainy day.”
    Ard turned his head as she looked past him at something else, “ No..I do not think I did.” He stood looking and she described a glow so now he had a point to look for out in the grey.

    The filly almost leaped out of her spot at the time he had spotted what she had seen. He followed her after all he had not met a lot of playmates in his home and was willing to meet another if she saw one. He let the ashen filly lead the way and have her personal space as they made their way across the sandy beach and closer to the glowing they had seen. The scent that came to him made his nose wrinkle and he almost paused in his moment. This was something new to him and as the filly before him did not seem scared he had to put on a brave face as well.
    He had lowered his head a moment to get the smoke out of his nose and with hope to stop it stinging at his eyes when Starlin called out from the front. Ard raised his head before lowering it again with a cough and he decided to stay quiet for now.
    Ardashir
    The blue in an ocean of grey..




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